The Maple Leafs are falling

ICE hockey is a fast, violent and often dishonest sport: hardly suitable, one might think, to be Canada's national game. But so it is. Invented, or at least formalised (the Dutch raise prior claims) on Canada's frozen ponds over a century ago, it is now deep-rooted in the national identity. “Our game,” Canadians call it. But it has also gone global, giving them mixed feelings of pride and—more often—frustration.

None of the other 13 hockey teams competing in the Winter Olympics that start in Nagano, Japan, this weekend will carry such a weight of emotional baggage. Canadians do not just hope, they expect their men to win the gold medal. “We're the best in the world,” goes the credo. With top professionals accepted in the Olympics for the first time, the Canadians have a chance to prove it beyond dispute.

But will they? Flag-wavers aside, Canadian fans are none too sure. The United States, Sweden, Finland and maybe Russia could take the gold. (Nor are Canada's women, four times the world champions, sure of gold: the American women look stronger.) The reality is that Canadian dominance ended about 40 years ago, when powerful teams from the Soviet Union emerged to dominate the Olympics and most other international tournaments until the mid-1980s.

True, as Canadians routinely complained, these Russian “amateurs” were no such thing, while Canada's best, playing in the American-Canadian National Hockey League (NHL), were barred as professionals. Miffed, Canada actually withdrew from international competition from 1969 to 1976. But the gripe wore thin as Soviet teams showed they could beat the NHL stars in North American-organised tournaments; and thinner yet as the Swedes, Finns, Czechs and Americans swept amateur championships formerly dominated by Canada.

Canada's record has improved in the past decade, but not enough to stifle anxious media examination of what is wrong with the national game. The answer is, plenty: messy fraud and sex-abuse scandals; Canada's first-ever loss to the United States in the 1996 World Cup; the junior team's eighth place—after five straight golds—in the 1997 world championship.

More alarming is that, at the top level, in the NHL—six of whose 26 teams are Canadian—play has become defensive, frequently foul and dull. At the start of the 1990s, each NHL game, on average, saw more than seven goals; today, barely more than five. Skilful play is being stifled by illegal interference and brute aggression. Even a top star admits the games are “boring”. Canadian fans are switching off in droves: since 1989 televised hockey has lost 41% of its audience.

The loss of quality is often blamed on continued expansion of the NHL (and yet another four teams are to be added by 2002); and it is happening NHL-wide, not just in Canada. But critics see a specifically Canadian malaise: Canada just is not producing top-class players. Twenty years ago, the players in Canadian NHL teams were almost all Canadians; now only 60% are. The top scorers tend to be Russians and Nordics, developed in amateur programmes renowned for emphasis on the basic skills. Even with a recent back-to-basics coaching drive, young Canadians spend only half as long on fundamentals as Nordic players.

The NHL was busy discussing its problems this week. Its team owners are themselves much to blame. They thought bone-crushing aggression would pack the rinks, so they hired bruising hulks as players. Yet it is the speedy, skilful players who provide the excitement. Canadian eyes at the Olympics will be on two of their best: Wayne Gretzky, seen by some as the most talented NHL player ever, and his heir-apparent, Paul Kariya. The playing surface chosen for Nagano is the wider one used in Europe. It will give the Canadian stars the space to shine that they rarely get at home; many Canadians would like to see it used in the NHL.

Certainly the league offers them little joy right now. In its four six-or seven-team geographical divisions, their best-placed team at midweek was Montreal's Canadiens, second in the north-east. Toronto's Maple Leafs held last place in their division, Calgary and Vancouver the bottom two in theirs.